Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner

Description From NetGalley:

From the critically acclaimed author of Something to Talk About comes Meryl Wilsner's Mistakes Were Made, a sharp and sexy rom-com about a college senior who accidentally hooks up with her best friend’s mom.

When Cassie Klein goes to an off-campus bar to escape her school’s Family Weekend, she isn’t looking for a hookup—it just happens. Buying a drink for a stranger turns into what should be an uncomplicated, amazing one-night stand. But then the next morning rolls around and her friend drags her along to meet her mom—the hot, older woman Cassie slept with.

Erin Bennett came to Family Weekend to get closer to her daughter, not have a one-night stand with a college senior. In her defense, she hadn’t known Cassie was a student when they'd met. To make things worse, Erin’s daughter brings Cassie to breakfast the next morning. And despite Erin's better judgment—how could sleeping with your daughter’s friend be anything but bad?—she and Cassie get along in the day just as well as they did last night.

What should have been a one-time fling quickly proves impossible to ignore, and soon Cassie and Erin are sneaking around. Worst of all, they start to realize they have something real. But is being honest about the love between them worth the cost?

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My Review:

I was given a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review. I was honestly very excited to read this book. I heard amazing things and I enjoy a tastefully done age gap story. Unfortunately, to me, this was not one of those stories.

The book started off really well. Warning it is very ~spicy~ and I absolutely loved every spice scene in this book. They were very well done. The first chapter did a great job in showing how the main characters meet and showing their chemistry together. It went downhill slowly after that.

First, the time jumps were confusing at times. While I do think the transitions are necessary, they can be very abrupt and I have to go back and re-read to understand what is happening. Second, the second half of the book really dredged on. It was multiple chapters of proving they liked each other but were too stubborn to admit they wanted to officially be together. The plot was pretty stagnant. Parker who is the reason Cassie and Erin cannot be together virtually disappears for a good chunk of the book as well. Thirdly and finally, I did not find the characters very enjoyable.

Cassie was the most unlikeable character to me. It felt like she had the personality of a college fratboy. I especially despised how much she called parker a "Princess." I understand that it was mostly shown to be teasing between friends, but it just really played into the smugness and cockiness of Cassie's character. It felt like she had no depth and that her tragic backstory was just something added in so we would feel for her. Honestly, it made the romance worse in my eyes as all the moments where Erin included Cassie in a family tradition or also got her a similar present to Parker made it seem less romantic and more parental vibes which made me feel uncomfortable.

Erin, I did enjoy a little bit as a character. I loved seeing her interact with her ex-husband and how she didn't let him walk all over her or Cassie. I honestly wish I could have seen more of her at work or with her friend Rachel because when she was not interacting with Cassie, she felt very flat. I wanted to experience more of her. I also really liked her interactions with Parker, especially when she talked about the divorce. I just felt like I wasn't given enough of her.

While I do love some age-gap romance, I do not think this was handled very well. The book spent so much time on Parker being the only obstacle that it felt very unrealistic. They barely brought up the age difference being an actual issue or even discussed it. I would have loved to have seen different cultural references, them navigating the societal ramifications, and heck a power dynamic if there was one. The only time age was really ever brought up was during one of Erin's monologues where she is trying to convince herself that the attraction was okay. She talks about how it's okay to be attracted to Cassie because she never saw her grow up, therefore, who cares if she's practically the same age as her daughter? That actually creeped me out a bit, to be honest. She also mentioned how much she liked Cassie because of essentially her potential which also did not sit right with me. The whole romance was just very cringe and pretty much only based on attraction and not substance.

I believe this book would have been perfect if it was just a spicy novella instead of a romance novel cause, if I didn't say it enough, I really enjoyed the spice scened and thought they were very well written. Overall, I would not recommend this book despite knowing that a lot of people have enjoyed it. I still am interested in reading other works by this author as this was just one book I didn't like.

Well, that's my unpopular opinion. What are your thoughts on this book? Comment them below!